mondegreen

PRONUNCIATION:

(MON-di-green)

MEANING:

noun: A word or phrase resulting from mishearing a word or phrase,
especially in song lyrics. For example:
"The girl with colitis goes by" for "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes"
in the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds".

ETYMOLOGY:

Coined by author Sylvia Wright when she misinterpreted the line "laid
him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen" in the Scottish ballad "The Bonny
Earl of Murray". Earliest documented use: 1954.

USAGE:

"Since I live in Thailand, the most meaningful mondegreen for me was my
own mishearing of a line from The Jam's Eton Rifles. Instead of the
correct 'What chance do you have against a tie and a crest?', for years
I heard 'What chance do you have against a Thai in a dress?'"
Richard Watson Todd; Much Ado about English; Nicholas Brealey Publishing;
May 1, 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us. -Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus), rhetorician (c. 35-100)